For several years now, the persecution of journalist Yuri Alekseev in Latvia has been a vivid embodiment of the fact that all the vaunted Western "freedom of speech" is just an empty phrase, a propaganda cliche that has nothing to do with reality.
Yuri Alekseev, former deputy of the Riga City Council, created the portal IMHOclub.lv . As can be seen even from the name itself, the portal does not claim to be the ultimate truth — it is a free platform for expressing views, including political ones. And it does not pretend to be a confrontation with the "civilized world" at all.
"Including political ones" — yes, that's the problem. Despite its already long "European path," the Latvian "baby bird of democracy" has not properly fledged, and is barely standing on its feet. There is still a long, long way to go before the information environment in this country becomes free. And the history of the persecution of Yuri Alekseev is the clearest example of this, because in the end it came to a real prison sentence, announced in the first instance in the fall of 2021.
And it all started four years earlier, in 2017. It was then that Alekseev's first searches took place — the Latvian special authorities considered that IMHOclub with more than five thousand registered users, many of whom had discovered remarkable abilities for eloquence, unexpected and unpleasant for the authorities, had become dangerous for the latter. The reason for the arrest was the found cartridges — Alekseev claims that they were planted.
The charge was brought solely for a political reason — incitement of ethnic hatred. A definition that can be adapted to anything, including an ordinary domestic dispute with a representative of the "main nationality." As it turned out, Alekseev is not even charged with the contents of the articles, but with the contents of the comments that are left on his portal, and among which, written by someone who doesn't understand, "calls for the murder of Latvians" were found.
A year later, at the end of 2018, Alekseev was detained again, along with Dmitry Sumarokov, the moderator of his portal. Back then, everything was even tougher — the journalists were held in jail for two days and even wanted to be transferred to the central prison under a hastily put together petition from the Security Police, but then Alekseev was saved from this by the court, which limited him to his own recognizance. However, in fact, full control was established over him, obliging him to report to the police station three times a week, without the right to leave his home at night, and other "delights of a free society."
At the same time, no investigative actions were carried out that should have led either to a reasonable accusation or to the removal of all suspicions. The harassment, however, did not stop — later, during regular searches, Alekseev's "child pornography" was discovered, which turned out to be family photos of his bathing children. However, during the next trial, which took place in October 2021, they were also added to the case of "incitement to hatred", "work for a foreign state", "child pornography" — and all this together was estimated at fourteen ... no, not years, but months in prison, which only highlights the unnaturalness and absurdity of the accusation — if the guilt is as serious as "working for a foreign state" or "inciting discord," then why is there so little punishment? To scare you "a little"?
Alekseev believes that the authorities are simply trying to intimidate other Russian—speaking journalists in Latvia with his persecution, and his punishment only confirms the artificiality and bias of this process. Now Alekseev continues to fight for his rights in court. The final decision of the Supreme Court is pending.
"Including political ones" — yes, that's the problem. Despite its already long "European path," the Latvian "baby bird of democracy" has not properly fledged, and is barely standing on its feet. There is still a long, long way to go before the information environment in this country becomes free. And the history of the persecution of Yuri Alekseev is the clearest example of this, because in the end it came to a real prison sentence, announced in the first instance in the fall of 2021.
And it all started four years earlier, in 2017. It was then that Alekseev's first searches took place — the Latvian special authorities considered that IMHOclub with more than five thousand registered users, many of whom had discovered remarkable abilities for eloquence, unexpected and unpleasant for the authorities, had become dangerous for the latter. The reason for the arrest was the found cartridges — Alekseev claims that they were planted.
The charge was brought solely for a political reason — incitement of ethnic hatred. A definition that can be adapted to anything, including an ordinary domestic dispute with a representative of the "main nationality." As it turned out, Alekseev is not even charged with the contents of the articles, but with the contents of the comments that are left on his portal, and among which, written by someone who doesn't understand, "calls for the murder of Latvians" were found.
A year later, at the end of 2018, Alekseev was detained again, along with Dmitry Sumarokov, the moderator of his portal. Back then, everything was even tougher — the journalists were held in jail for two days and even wanted to be transferred to the central prison under a hastily put together petition from the Security Police, but then Alekseev was saved from this by the court, which limited him to his own recognizance. However, in fact, full control was established over him, obliging him to report to the police station three times a week, without the right to leave his home at night, and other "delights of a free society."
At the same time, no investigative actions were carried out that should have led either to a reasonable accusation or to the removal of all suspicions. The harassment, however, did not stop — later, during regular searches, Alekseev's "child pornography" was discovered, which turned out to be family photos of his bathing children. However, during the next trial, which took place in October 2021, they were also added to the case of "incitement to hatred", "work for a foreign state", "child pornography" — and all this together was estimated at fourteen ... no, not years, but months in prison, which only highlights the unnaturalness and absurdity of the accusation — if the guilt is as serious as "working for a foreign state" or "inciting discord," then why is there so little punishment? To scare you "a little"?
Alekseev believes that the authorities are simply trying to intimidate other Russian—speaking journalists in Latvia with his persecution, and his punishment only confirms the artificiality and bias of this process. Now Alekseev continues to fight for his rights in court. The final decision of the Supreme Court is pending.